Contents

Overview

This abbreviation is used in colloquial English—instead of the whole phrase. It connotes a sexually attractive female, usually several years older than the person using the term.[1] In the UK, the term Yummy Mummy is used as well as MILF. The Oxford Dictionary defines the term as "an attractive and stylish young mother"[2] while the Urban Dictionary adds that this person is "under 30, while MILFs are over 30".[3]

A 2007 article in New York Magazine stated that evidence the term had become mainstream included "25,000-plus MILF-branded mugs and tees on Café Press to a rash of hot-mama books (The Hot Mom’s Handbook, Confessions of a Naughty Mommy, The MILF Anthology), television shows (Desperate Housewives, The Real Housewives of Orange County, the forthcoming contest Hottest Mom in America, and a pilot in development called MILF & Cookies), and, of course, a concomitant porn genre (though the majority of these films simply feature women in their late twenties or early thirties—dinosaurs in the porn biz—defiling baby-faced 'pool boys' and 'grocery clerks')." The authors of the article went on to hypothesize, "How exactly did a once-taboo erotic fetish become a widespread, culturally sanctioned ideal, a perverse mix of branding and empowerment?"[4]

In 2013, an apparel company, True & Co., parodied the phrase in advertising for its line of brassieres converting it to "Mom I'd Like to Fit". The campaign garnered negative attention for the San Francisco based company.[9]

^ abMarrit Ingman. "Of MILF and Men - The sexy-mom phenomenon—is it hot or not?". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2010-08-14. How exactly did a once-taboo erotic fetish become a widespread, culturally sanctioned ideal, a perverse mix of branding and empowerment? After all, a hot mom used to be a tragedy, whether in the literal sense (Oedipus’ Mom-I’m-Fated-to-Fuck, Jocasta) or in the bittersweet Mrs. Robinson sense (“Oh, God. Oh, let me out,” begs Benjamin Braddock). Alternately, it was an insult: “Oh, yeah? That’s not what your mama said last night.” A hot mom was by definition a bad mom.